# ECS vs EKS: What Each One Actually Costs You

> Originally published on [DevToolHub](https://devtoolhub.com/ecs-vs-eks-cost-comparison/).

ECS's control plane is free. EKS charges $0.10 per cluster-hour for standard support, jumping to $0.60 per cluster-hour once a Kubernetes version ages past 14 months — roughly $73/month to $438/month for the same cluster.

## The control plane price everyone skips

AWS runs ECS's scheduler and API for free. EKS bills $0.10/hour standard, $0.60/hour extended support, per its own pricing page.

| | ECS | EKS |
|---|---|---|
| Control plane | Free | $0.10/hour standard |
| After 14 months | N/A | $0.60/hour extended |
| Monthly estimate | $0 | $73 → $438 |

## Why the jump catches teams off guard

It's on AWS's pricing page, not hidden. The charge tracks the Kubernetes version, not your application — a forgotten cluster becomes a quiet 6x cost increase.

## Where each one wins

ECS: AWS-only workloads, no Kubernetes investment, smallest operational surface. EKS: multi-cloud portability, existing Kubernetes tooling (Helm, ArgoCD, GitOps), and Fargate support means neither forces node management anymore.

## The decision

Pick ECS for AWS-only simplicity. Pick EKS for portability — and put the version upgrade on a real calendar if you do.

Full breakdown: [devtoolhub.com/ecs-vs-eks-cost-comparison](https://devtoolhub.com/ecs-vs-eks-cost-comparison/)